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As a few of you might know, Ian (Aquilaeagle) and I went over to Italy for a weekend recently to meet the Italian S2K club and to discuss the many options for next year's Euromeet. We were more than very pleased with what we saw and here is a little write up to whet your appetities, but before I continue I must firstly thank the staff from S2K Club Italia for their fantastic hospitality, especially Furio Fraccaroli (club President) and Beppe Magistro (forum moderator) for the warm welcome they extended to us. It was a real pleasure for us to spend time with them, especially on some of those twisty mountain passes where that Italian flair really came into its own.
We'd taken the late flight from Stansted to Milan on Firday night and arrived a little after 10.30 pm. By the time we had picked up the hire car it was already 11.00 and we had another 2 hours of driving ahead of us to get to our rendez vous point.
So we hit the road and got lost immediately (my fault), but soon we were back on track, however we were a little perturbed by the flashing to be seen off in the distance. Ten minutes later and we were driving through one of the biggest storms I have ever seen, lightning ever other second, high winds, lashing it down with rain and all manner of debris blowing all over the road ahead of us. We'd obviously taken the great British weather with us !!
We arrived at 1 am and stayed up talking with our Italian hosts until well past 3. The next day we woke up, opened our hotel blinds to see what crappy weather was instore for us and were greated by the glorious view you see below.
View from our balcony
Another view from our balcony
Yet another (I think you're getting the gist already)
Che bello ! As the Italians would say.
Bizarely the hotel had a French name (Hotel du lac - Lake hotel - but you knew that already )
Another of the hotel
Another of Lake Levico - Note the pedalos and beach area just visible in the bottom left
We set off at around 11 am with Beppe to tour some of the roads proposed for the Euromeet, the following pictures were shot out of the car window by Ian
Mountains (The Dolomites)
More Dolomites
Then we got to the great mountain roads, nice and twisty and great smooth asphalt
Bored of the scenic shots yet ?
Yet more twisty bits
The first person to spot Ian in this shot gets a free ice cream on me, only one condition, you have to come to the Euromeet to claim it.
Italian lesson #256 Il tornante meaning hairpin bend - Take note you will be seeing an awful lot of these
Italian lesson #257 Un altro tornante - Another hairpin
For some reason this reminds me of Sega Rally from the 80s
One of the many picturesque mountain villages we came across
Did I tell you the Italian for a hairpin bend already ?
Just imagine it, screaming round here sideways, beautiful mountains on one side, picturesque villages on the other, 9000 RPM, what more do you need ?
It really was like having your own racetrack planted on the side of a mountain
Il castello di Pergine (Pergine castle) constructed in the 13th century
Another shot of Pergine castle
More of that fantastic countryside
We went out for another drive later that evening and this time we were accompanied by some other members and friends of the Italian S2K Club. The driving this time was less of a scenic tour and more of full throttle petrol fest. It goes without saying that the roads and scenery were absolutely stunning, but this region also has its fair share of lakes too.
I was told the names of all the lakes, but we were going so fast at the time that I didn't have time to note them down I was too busy holding on for dear life. Anyway, here are the photos, I think they speak for themselves.
We stopped at Pergine Castle for a quick break to stretch our legs and take a few pictures
Pretty impresive don't you think ? There is a great restaurant inside
Another shot of the castle and its ramparts
One of the several towers that form part of the castle walls
More of that fantastic Italian countryside framed by the castle walls
A big thank you to our drivers and hosts. I was passenger with the President of the Italian S2K Club (his car is out of shot) and we were joined by another S, an Opel Speedster Turbo (VX220 Turbo for the British) and a classic Porsche 964 Turbo.
Before you ask that isn't us in the boat
We hit the road again on our way back to the hotel for our evening meal
The next day we were in for a real treat. We set off in the morning to drive the route of the 'cronoscalata di Bondone' which translates as Bondone hill climb course. This is an 18 km road that winds up the side of Monte Bondone and is used as a regular stage on the European Hill Climb Championship, it has also been used for the World Rally Championship
The road is immaculately kept and the asphalt was amazingly smooth as the pictures will testify.
Here are a couple videos from Youtube of the cronoscalata course, the first one is taken from the hill side Click here the second is in car footage with a little 'extra' at the end Click here.
From left to right - Me, Gian Luigi, Matteo & Gian Luigi's wife.
Matteo is a helicopter pilot and works for the mountain rescue service. If all goes well he will be filming our ascent of the cronoscalata di Bondone from his helicopter for next year's meet.
This really is a fantastic road
You'd need big balls of steel to take this one flat out
An S bend
Just remember to keep your eyes on the road and not the scenery
Another S bend, this road was clearly made for our car !
That sign should be reported to trade descriptions, it clearly doesn't do the road justice
Mama mia !
As I said earlier, it's more like a race track than a public road
This one is my personal favourite, check out the road on the mountain in the distance
When not on the mountain roads, you'll have to put up with views like this. Hard life isn't it ?
A few snaps for those of you who prefer to take the driving a little easier and soak up the Italian culture, trust me, there is plenty of it.
I'd like to say that we stayed in this place, but we didn't
Although we did stop there for a quick coffee on the terrace overlooking the lake
This is the same castle, but from up closer
Oh go on then, another gratuitous lake shot
And finally, this is the wife of the Italian S2k club's president, that's the spirit, start them young on Junior S2k.
The standard of accomodation was good, nothing amazing, just good comfortable and functional rooms.
Each room was equipped with a television, air conditioning and a refrigerator. Some rooms had balconies with a table and chair set and all rooms had plenty of wardrobe and cupboard storage.
The bathroom was spotlessly clean and was a good size, with a decent shower and all the other facilities you would expect.
The staff were very friendly, so much so that one night after they had locked up, they gave us the keys to the bar and told us we could help ourselves.
The hotel has its own private beach area on the banks of the lake where you could hire a pedallo or a canoe, go for a swim or simply relax on one of the sun loungers.
The hotel also had its own restaurant, but I'll talk about that in more detail below.
Breakfast was a typical continental breakfast buffet comprising of cold meats and cheeses, various types of breads and pastries with assorted spreads, breakfast cereals, teas and coffees, fresh fruit, yoghurts and fresh fruit juices.
Food
The hotel had 2 restaurants, one indoors and one covered outdoor one over looking the lake. As with all Italian cuisine the standards were very good, everything was cooked well and all ingredients used were very fresh.
The atmosphere was great sat lakeside in the evening enjoying some local dishes whilst having a couple of beers. I had a pizza one night and a steak the next, both delicious, followed by traditional Italian desserts.
The prices too were very reasonable.
We had the same experience in all the other places we stoped off at for a quick snack. The service was quick and the staff were very pleasant, the food and drinks were always good and the prices seemed ridiculously low compared with those in the UK.
We didn't really explore any of the local wine, but there were plenty of local producers for those who wish to tour a vinyard for a degustazione as it is known locally or a tasting as we say.
Very nice, looks like northern Italy. One of my favorite places is Bolzano, I had a great time there a few years ago getting to know the locals. Beautiful country.
Euromeet 2009 Preview
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